The present invention relates to a programmable electronic messaging system, and more particularly to an internet based messaging server programmable to divert an incoming e-mail message to one of a plurality of different electronic delivery mechanisms.
As e-mail messaging technology continues to evolve and advance, it is becoming increasingly a more prevalent form of communication. As more and more individuals rely on e-mail as their principle form of communication, it is increasingly becoming important that it""s accessibility also continues to evolve.
In the past, e-mail messages were typically transmitted from one computer terminal to another, in which the e-mail message is transmitted from the sender to a recipient, and after being transmitted from the sender, it would typically reside in a messaging server (the e-mail account for the recipient) until such a time as the recipient would access the server to retrieve the recipient""s e-mail messages residing in the server. With continuing advancements in communication technology, now not only PC terminals can transmit e-mail messages, but almost any device capable of transmitting electronic data can now both send and retrieve e-mail messages (e.g., cellular telephones, hand-held computer devices having wireless communication capabilities, etc.)
However, eventhough e-mail messages can now be both more easily be sent and retrieved, there are still many instances when an e-mail recipient is not capable of retrieving an e-mail formatted message (e.g., the recipient does not readily have access to an e-mail receiving device). Thus, there still remains a need to improve and expand email accessibility as well as efficiency.
Accordingly the present invention relates to a system and method for re-transmitting from the recipient""s e-mail server an e-mail message transmitted from a sender to a location other then the recipient""s intended e-mail address upon the occurrence of predetermined criteria as prescribed by the recipient.
The method includes the steps of providing a storage medium in a messaging server and receiving in a recipients intended e-mail account of the messaging server an e-mail message transmitted from a sender. At least one set of criteria is defined by the recipient which is to be satisfied in the address block of the received e-mail message for initiating a priority messaging task in the messaging server. The address block of the received e-mail message is then interrogating to determine if predetermined criteria from the defined set of criteria has been met.
The e-mail message is then re-transmitted in the messaging server to the recipient such that the recipient receives at least the messaging information content of the e-mail message at a location other than the recipients messaging server in accordance with the priority messaging task if the predetermined criteria has be met in the address block the aforesaid e-mail message.
Additionally the system and method of the present invention further provides converting the messaging information content of the e-mail message to a predetermined communication format other than e-mail format and storing the converted e-mail message in the storage medium. All stored converted e-mail messages are then transmitted so as to be received by a recipient in the predetermined communication when a predetermined number of converted e-mail messages have been stored in the storage medium.